Longest strike in NHS history leads to more than 113,000 cancellations

Patients are “bearing the brunt of industrial action”, health experts have said, as it emerged more than 113,000 operations, appointments and procedures were postponed due to the longest walkout in the history of the NHS.

Junior doctors in England staged a six-day walkout from January 3 to January 9.

NHS England figures show the strike led to 113,779 inpatient and outpatient appointments being rescheduled.

It means a total of 1.33 million inpatient and outpatient hospital appointments have been cancelled in England since the current spell of industrial action began in the NHS in December 2022.

During the latest junior doctor walkout in England some 25,446 staff were absent from work due to strikes at the peak of the action on January 3, NHS England said.

NHS leaders have warned that the impact caused by the strike could last for “months”.

NHS England’s national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “The longest strike in NHS history has led to unprecedented disruption for patients and their families, and while staff have planned extensively and worked tirelessly to keep patients safe, it comes once again with an enormous cost.

“That cost is clear in these figures – likely to be even higher in reality – with more than 113,000 appointments postponed at a time when services are already under huge pressure from rising flu and Covid cases and we are seeing a huge demand for care.

“Medical leaders and frontline staff are telling us they are very concerned about the coming weeks as the cold weather bites and more people may need hospitalisation.

“This puts an incredible strain on staff who have been covering striking colleagues as we continue to navigate one of the most difficult times of year.

“Colleagues across the NHS will now be doing everything they can to make up for lost time as we continue to make progress on addressing the elective backlog and ensure patients get the care they need.”

Commenting on the figures, Louise Ansari, chief executive at Healthwatch England, said: “These figures are a stark reminder that it is patients who are bearing the brunt of the industrial action, with their appointments cancelled or rescheduled.

“The cumulative effect of various strikes now hitting the NHS for more than a year also means people are experiencing multiple cancellations, affecting their confidence in health services, often leaving them in pain, feeling stressed and anxious.

“People need to be protected from yet another year of disrupted services and risks to their health. We are urging Government and the BMA (British Medical Association) to redouble their efforts to reach an agreement.”

Experts warned that the number of cancellations could be double those reported as hospitals pre-emptively did not book in pre-planned operations during strikes.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told the PA news agency: “The national figure for the cancelled appointments over the last year of industrial action, in our view, significantly underestimates it because actually a lot of trusts pre-emptively didn’t make appointments in the first place.

“So you have to more or less double that figure in order to get the actual number of appointments and procedures that were cancelled.”

NHS commentators have implored ministers and the union to get back round the table urgently to break the deadlock.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Let’s hope that this strike is the last one. The Government and unions must sit down and talk to find a way to stop this dispute dragging on.”

On Tuesday, the Government said that the BMA’s demand for a 35% pay rise is “not affordable, even over several years”.

The Department of Health and Social Care urged the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee to “demonstrate reasonable expectations and be serious about doing a deal so that negotiations can resume”.

Ministers have refused to negotiate while strike action has been called, but with no further dates pencilled it is hoped that talks to end the dispute will resume soon.

Speaking on Tuesday, BMA junior doctors’ committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “Junior doctors are ready to settle this dispute once and for all.

“(Health Secretary) Victoria Atkins on Monday evening said she’s keen to deliver a ‘fair and reasonable’ outcome. We are ready to talk about that fair outcome at her earliest convenience.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said on Wednesday: “Despite the significant pressure, the healthcare system has coped well thanks to the hard work of consultants, nurses and other healthcare staff who worked during industrial action.

“The strikes may have ended but their repercussions will be felt for weeks and months to come. We want to put an end to damaging strikes once and for all, and if the BMA junior doctors’ committee can demonstrate they have reasonable expectations, we will still sit down with them.”